He was already linked to the country, being born to a French father and Vietnamese mother, but he lost both of them in an accident in France when he was young, and was raised by his maternal grandmother, according to a 2011 report in the Kien Thuc (Knowledge) online newspaper. He worked as a carpenter and a horse keeper in France and England before deciding to visit his mother’s native country.

Frédo’s transformationfrom a curious tourist to a charmed one and to a tour operator himself has been accompanied by a motivationto preserve the country’s beauty, the culture of its ethnic minority residents and improve the living standardsofcommunitiesin a sustainablemanner.

In Cao Bang Province, he established a small museum introducing local culture to foreign tourists. In Lao Cai Province, he built a bridge that made it easier and safer for children to attend school. In Yen Bai Province, he founded a nursery school and a community “culture house.” He has also helped improvesanitary facilitieslike toilets and septic tanks atvarious localities.

Because of the project, locals are able to augment their incomes from farming by participating in the tourism industry. They have also developed a better awarenessof environment protection. Many villagers have become professional tour guides able to speak foreign languages.

In 1994, he tookadventurous trips to the northern highlandson a Minsk a motorbike produced in Belarus. During those trips, he was not only charmed by the beautiful landscapebut also the culture of ethnic minority people he met.

“Unexpectedly,” it was “effective,” as he received many phone calls and bookings, he said.

Không ngờ, ông nhận được rất nhiều cuộc gọi và đặt hàng.

In 1997, he founded a travel company called Compagine Bourlingue, which was also known as Freewheeling Tours in English. He asked the ethnic minority residents to join him in offering homestay experiences for foreign tourists in their villages.

Once again, he invited local people to join him in the eco-tourism project. He taught them French and English. He also sent them to Hanoi, where they were trained in being tour guides as well as other aspects of the hospitality industry.

He can speak both Vietnamese and the Dao people’s language fluently. Although he is based in Hanoi, he visits and stays in the village often, and has learnt a lot about the Dao culture, from the meaning of pillars in their traditional houses to the practice of burning incense and offering chicken to the spirits before building houses.

He regularly takes his 10-year-old son to Ngoi Tu, where the boy plays with local children. And, like his father, he has learnt to speak Vietnamese and the Dao language very well. Frédo is divorced and has two children.